Search results
11 – 20 of over 156000Xuequn Wang, Paul F. Clay and Nicole Forsgren
This paper aims to investigate how to promote two types of knowledge contribution tasks. The authors focus on the role of supervisor and coworker support on motivation, and their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how to promote two types of knowledge contribution tasks. The authors focus on the role of supervisor and coworker support on motivation, and their effects on two different contribution tasks. Motivating employees to contribute knowledge is quite challenging. While previous studies have tried to understand how to promote knowledge contribution, few have differentiated between knowledge contribution tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
Information technology support was chosen as the context of this study, and data were collected from system administrators within a Fortune 500 company via a web-based survey.
Findings
Results show the differential effects of two forms of motivation on different contribution tasks, and supervisor support is positively associated with intrinsic motivation. Specifically, while intrinsic motivation is positively associated with challenging knowledge contribution, external motivation is positively related to mundane knowledge contribution and negatively related to challenging knowledge contribution.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the current literature by providing a deeper theoretical understanding of knowledge contribution tasks, and contributes to practice by offering suggestions on how to better motivate employees within organizations and promote different knowledge contribution tasks.
Details
Keywords
Isabel Oliveira Jordao do Amaral and Minhyung Kang
This research investigates the detailed mechanisms of how gamification affordances influence intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation and ultimately improve the quality and…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the detailed mechanisms of how gamification affordances influence intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation and ultimately improve the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey responses from 154 users of Stack Overflow in Portuguese were analyzed by the partial least squares–structural equation modeling approach to validate the research model.
Findings
Challenge and goal setting influence individuals to reach the flow state, which increases the quantity of knowledge contribution. Rewards enhance the quality of knowledge contribution through perceived self-worth. Social comparison increases perceived reputation, but its impact does not ultimately lead to knowledge contribution.
Originality/value
The current study differentiated types of motivation and dimensions of knowledge contribution when exploring the effects of gamification affordances. This perspective was proven helpful to understand the various gamification affordances' influence on knowledge contribution.
Details
Keywords
Shanji Yao, Xinnuo Zheng and Dewen Liu
The purpose of this paper is to find a way to encourage community members to actively create content and contribute knowledge through the study of the relationship between virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find a way to encourage community members to actively create content and contribute knowledge through the study of the relationship between virtual community awareness, commitment and knowledge contribution, so as to make virtual community revitalize and provide a better platform for enterprises to carry out network marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study establishes a theoretical model that member knowledge contribution’s prepositive impact in virtual community. SOVC is an independent variable, commitment is a mediating variable and knowledge contribution is a dependent variable. Through 139 valid questionnaires from MI community, relationships among sense of virtual community (SOVC), commitment and knowledge contribution are deeply discussed.
Findings
Empirical results show that, as three dimensions of SOVC, membership, influence and immersion can all drive commitment and knowledge contribution in different degrees. In the two-dimensional division of commitment, only affective commitment can drive knowledge contribution. Affective commitment and calculative commitment can play a mediating role in the impact of SOVC on knowledge contribution.
Originality/value
Empirical research that the academia has done on important issues such as the impact of SOVC and commitment on knowledge contribution is deficient. Furthermore, those researches which have explored the mediating effect of commitment in the impact of SOVC on knowledge contribution remain merely on theoretical deduction level, and empirical studies based on Chinese background are also rare. In China, MI community is the typical representative of virtual community that runs successfully, and choosing it to conduct research can not only provide representatives on sample but also duplicate on the result popularity. Thus, this paper chooses MI community as the empirical object to explore the relationships among SOVC, commitment and knowledge contribution.
Details
Keywords
Min Zhang, Yunxiao Xue, Jun Yang and Yan Zhang
Members' knowledge contribution behavior has positive significance for maintaining the activity of the knowledge community, as well as for improving knowledge interaction…
Abstract
Purpose
Members' knowledge contribution behavior has positive significance for maintaining the activity of the knowledge community, as well as for improving knowledge interaction efficiency and member viscosity. With the development of the mobile Internet, knowledge communities based on social platforms have become more convenient and popular. This study aims to explore what and how factors influence members' knowledge contribution behavior in social knowledge communities from the perspective of social distance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the theory of reciprocity and on the theory of self-efficacy, hypotheses and research models are proposed. In the empirical study, WeChat learning group is selected as the research case. The empirical investigation (N = 244) collects research data through questionnaires.
Findings
I-intention and we-intention both have positive influence on members' knowledge contribution behavior. Knowledge self-efficacy positively moderates the influence of we-intention and affects knowledge contribution behavior. In addition, I-intention is positively affected by expected knowledge benefit, expected emotional benefit and expected image benefit, while costs have no effect. We-intention is positively influenced by affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment in relationship strength, as well as affiliation to the contributing climate.
Originality/value
This paper aims to discuss I-intention, we-intention, and their roles in members' knowledge contribution behavior. It is a beneficial development for existing research to combine the characteristics of new style communities with systematical analysis of knowledge contribution behavior. Findings may provide enlightenment to the social knowledge community on diversity development and differentiated marketing strategies.
Details
Keywords
Ayoung Suh and Christian Wagner
This study aims to examine how gamification increases employees’ knowledge contribution to the place of work. It develops and tests the conjecture that gamification adds hedonic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how gamification increases employees’ knowledge contribution to the place of work. It develops and tests the conjecture that gamification adds hedonic value to the use of an enterprise collaboration system (ECS), which, in turn, increases in both the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the framework of successful gamification against a backdrop of affordance theory, this study develops and tests a theoretical model that explains the effects of gamification affordances on knowledge contribution via the use of an ECS. Empirical data were gathered from 166 employees at a global company that used a gamified ECS designed to aid knowledge sharing.
Findings
Results using structural equation modeling showed that three gamification affordances – rewardability, competition and visibility of achievement – jointly influenced employees’ perceived hedonic value of the ECS, which, in turn, increased knowledge contribution.
Practical implications
The results indicate that designing affordances that can increase hedonic value is central to facilitating employees’ knowledge contribution. However, simply incorporating game artifacts does not guarantee increased hedonic value of an ECS. Instead, assessing, monitoring and diagnosing what affordances users perceive from the use of a gamified system are important.
Originality/value
By conceptualizing gamification affordances rather than specifying the design features of enterprise applications, this study provides meaningful insights into how the benefits of gamification can be harnessed for knowledge management in organizations.
Details
Keywords
Lijuan Luo, Yuwei Wang, Siqi Duan, Shanshan Shang, Baojun Ma and Xiaoli Zhou
Based on the perspectives of social capital, image motivation and motivation affordances, this paper explores the direct and moderation effects of different kinds of motivations…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the perspectives of social capital, image motivation and motivation affordances, this paper explores the direct and moderation effects of different kinds of motivations (i.e. relationship-based motivation, community-based motivation and individual-based motivation) on users' continuous knowledge contributions in social question and answer (Q&A) communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collect the panel data of 10,193 users from a popular social Q&A community in China. Then, a negative binomial regression model is adopted to analyze the collected data.
Findings
The paper demonstrates that social learning, peer recognition and knowledge seeking positively affect users' continuous contribution behaviors. However, the results also show that social exposure has the opposite effect. In addition, self-presentation is found to moderate the influence of social factors on users' continuous use behaviors, while the moderation effect of motivation affordances has no significance.
Originality/value
First, this study develops a comprehensive motivation framework that helps gain deeper insights into the underlying mechanism of knowledge contribution in social Q&A communities. Second, this study conducts panel data analysis to capture the impacts of motivations over time, rather than intentions at a fixed time point. Third, the findings can help operators of social Q&A communities to optimize community norms and incentive mechanisms.
Details
Keywords
Lingfeng Dong, Jinghui (Jove) Hou, Liqiang Huang, Yuan Liu and Jie Zhang
This paper aims to explore the effects of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution, and how past contribution experience moderates the effects of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the effects of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution, and how past contribution experience moderates the effects of the motivations on continuous knowledge contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on goal-framing theory, the present study proposes a comprehensive theoretical model by integrating normative and hedonic motivations, past contribution experience and continuous knowledge contribution. The data for virtual community members' activities were collected using the Python Scrapy crawler. Logit regression was used to validate the integrative model.
Findings
The results show that both normative motivation (reflected by generalized reciprocity and social learning) and hedonic motivation (reflected by peer recognition and online attractiveness) are positively associated with continuous knowledge contribution. Moreover, these effects are found to be significantly influenced by members' past knowledge contribution experience. Specifically, the results suggest that past knowledge contribution experience undermines the influence of generalized reciprocity on continuous knowledge contribution but strengthens the effect of peer recognition and online attractiveness.
Originality/value
Although the emerging literature on continuous knowledge contribution mainly focuses on motivations as antecedents that promote continuous knowledge contribution, most of these studies assume that the relationship between motivating mechanisms and continuous knowledge contribution does not change over time. The study is one of the initial studies to examine whether and how the influence of multiple motivations evolves relative to levels of past contribution experience.
Details
Keywords
Yongqiang Sun, Yiwen Zhang and Xiao-Liang Shen
Prior studies fail to reach a consensus on the effects of extrinsic motivation (EM) on knowledge contribution in virtual communities. To fill this research gap, this research…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies fail to reach a consensus on the effects of extrinsic motivation (EM) on knowledge contribution in virtual communities. To fill this research gap, this research proposes two mechanisms of EM – direct effect versus indirect effect via intrinsic motivation (IM) – and introduces prosocial motivation (PSM) as the moderator to define the valence of these two mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts structural equation modeling to validate hypotheses based on 448 responses from XiaoMi online community users.
Findings
The results of the moderated mediation analysis show that the direct effect, indirect effect via IM and total effect of EM on knowledge contribution are contingent on the level of PSM. Specifically, as the level of PSM increases, the direct, indirect and total effects of EM on knowledge contribution and the effects of EM on IM change from positive to insignificant and then to negative. Although IM constantly plays an important role across levels of PSM, its effect is stronger when the degree of PSM is high.
Originality/value
This paper advances knowledge of an integrated framework of EM by simultaneously describing its direct and indirect effects, describing its positive and negative effects and untangling the boundary conditions under which each effect of EM applies.
Details
Keywords
Mohammad AlMarzouq, Varun Grover, Jason Thatcher and Rich Klein
To remain sustainable, open source software (OSS) projects must attract new members—or newcomers—who make contributions. In this paper, the authors develop a set of hypotheses…
Abstract
Purpose
To remain sustainable, open source software (OSS) projects must attract new members—or newcomers—who make contributions. In this paper, the authors develop a set of hypotheses based on the knowledge barriers framework that examines how OSS communities can encourage contributions from newcomers.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing longitudinal data from the source code repositories of 232 OSS projects over a two-year period, the authors employ a Poisson-based mixed model to test how community characteristics, such as the main drivers of knowledge-based costs, relate to newcomers' contributions.
Findings
The results indicate that community characteristics, such as programming language choice, documentation effort and code structure instability, are the main drivers of knowledge-based contribution costs. The findings also suggest that managing these costs can result in more inclusive OSS communities, as evidenced by the number of contributing newcomers; the authors highlight the importance of maintaining documentation efforts for OSS communities.
Originality/value
This paper assumes that motivational factors are a necessary but insufficient condition for newcomer participation in OSS projects and that the cost to participation should be considered. Using the knowledge barriers framework, this paper identifies the main knowledge-based costs that hinder newcomer participation. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that does not limit data collection to a single hosting platform (e.g., SourceForge), which improves the generalizability of the findings.
Details
Keywords
Neethu Mohammed and T.J. Kamalanabhan
The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of benevolence-based, competence-based and integrity-based trust in peers on the employees’ voluntary knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of benevolence-based, competence-based and integrity-based trust in peers on the employees’ voluntary knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking with them. In addition, this study aims to explore how engaging in knowledge-contribution and knowledge-seeking behavior with peers influences an individual’s creative performance at work.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire-based survey was used and data were collected from 401 professionals working in information technology companies. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Benevolence-based trust and competence-based trust positively influence the extent to which individuals voluntarily engage in knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking with peers. Contrary to expectations, integrity-based trust has a negative effect on knowledge-seeking behavior at workplace. The results also provide evidence for a significant positive relationship between both types of knowledge sharing behavior and employees’ creative performance.
Originality/value
The present study differs from existing studies by offering a theoretical model that integrates different types of knowledge sharing, its antecedents and the differential impact on employee creativity. The model incorporates the knowledge-seeking dimension of individual knowledge sharing behavior, which has received relatively less attention in extant literature, and provides a conceptual comparison of different behavioral contexts in a single study. While prior studies have predominantly explored the antecedents of knowledge sharing, this study is among the few that have simultaneously looked into the outcomes of knowledge sharing at individual level.
Details